People with high socioeconomic status disproportionally affect energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions directly through their consumption and indirectly through their financial and social resources. However, few climate change mitigation initiatives have targeted this population segment, and the potential of such initiatives remains insufficiently researched. In this Perspective, we analyse key characteristics of high-socioeconomic-status people and explore five roles through which they have a disproportionate impact on energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions and potentially on climate change mitigation, namely as consumers, investors, role models, organizational participants and citizens. We examine what is known about their disproportionate impact via consumption and explore their potential influence on greenhouse gas emissions through all five roles. We suggest that future research should focus on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by high-socioeconomic-status people and to align their investments, organizational choices and actions as social and political change agents with climate change mitigation goals.

社会经济地位高的人直接通过他们的消费和间接通过他们的财政和社会资源对能源驱动的温室气体排放产生不成比例的影响。然而，很少有气候变化减缓举措针对这一人群，而且此类举措的潜力仍未得到充分研究。在这个视角中，我们分析了社会经济地位高的人的关键特征，并探讨了他们对能源驱动的温室气体排放和潜在的气候变化减缓产生不成比例影响的五种角色，即消费者、投资者、榜样、组织参与者和公民。我们研究了关于它们通过消费产生的不成比例影响的已知信息，并通过所有五个角色探索它们对温室气体排放的潜在影响。我们建议未来的研究应侧重于减少高社会经济地位人群温室气体排放的战略，并使他们作为社会和政治变革推动者的投资、组织选择和行动与减缓气候变化的目标保持一致。